In the sport of hunting wild game, it is a time honored tradition to utilize calling devices to lure or otherwise attract the game. Particularly in the case of the elusive wild turkey, which is generally known to be a shy and wary game, the use of calling devices has been widely practiced but only with mixed results.
In wild turkey hunting, it is well known that the game is particularly wary of hunter visibility, movement and sounds. It is difficult to come within shooting range of a wild turkey and great care is taken by the hunter to assure that he remains unseen by the quarry and that no sound or movement is made that might cause the quarry to precipitously flee into hiding. To assure such, hunters generally position themselves in likely habitat of the wild turkey and than use a calling device or the like to attract the turkey into shooting view.
The prior art is replete with turkey call devices, most of which commonly comprise a friction plate and striker in an arrangement which relies heavily upon delicate and skillful manipulation by the operator to produce various sounds which might attract a wild turkey. It is a fair assessment that such calls are difficult to operate effectively and indeed most are found more often on the sportsman's trophy shelf than among the equipment brought to a hunt.
One common turkey call device involves a support assembly which is generally held in one hand and a striker which is held in the other hand for manipulation against the support assembly. The operator scrapes the striker along a friction plate of the support assembly in a particular skillful fashion so as to produce clucking or the like sounds which may prove attractive to a turkey. Such devices generally require significant skill and dexterity to operate in an effective manner and are generally known to require many hours of practice and experience before an appropriate sound suitable for attracting turkeys can be generated. In addition the two handed operation of the device is a disadvantage in the field in that it requires a careful handling of luring device and shooting equipment in order to enjoy the fruits of what may have been attracted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,733 discloses a game calling device wherein a striker is arranged in a resonant box having an acoustical chamber at the bottom with resonant openings. The striker is mounted to a rod which extends through the ends of the box and manipulation of the rod through the box enables movement of the striker longitudinally along a friction plate comprising the top of the acoustical chamber. Such device is designed for single handed use wherein the operator can hold the box in his palm and manipulate the rod with a finger to initiate a scraping sound. There are many drawbacks to such device, particularly that the type of sound generated cannot be conveniently modified by the operator for changing conditions and/or turkey interest, a particular sound cannot be conveniently registered for repetition, and the extending rod is vulnerable to inadvertent operation particularly when moving from a calling to a shooting position and thus the hunter is vulnerable to precipitous flushing of wary game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,845 discloses a game calling device wherein a round ended striker is perpendicularly affixed to the base of a generally rectilinear handle block which is arranged for longitudinal displacement within an elongate rectangular box. The interior surface of the bottom of the box comprises a friction plate. The handle block is held against an end of the box in the rest position by a U-shaped spring, which also urges the handle back to rest after longitudinal displacement by the manipulation of the operator.
The box is configured at the rest end to initially hold the handle block generally parallel, and the striker generally perpendicular, to the friction plate. The round end of the striker is maintained in general engagement with the plate. The handle block is configured with a rounded shoulder at the rest end for engagement of a thumb or fingers of the operator. In the operation of the device, the rounded shoulder of the handle block is pushed downwardly into the rectangular box and the handle block is longitudinally displaced within the box. The rounded striker is thus pivoted from a generally perpendicular engagement with the friction plate to an acute angular engagement and the longitudinal displacement of the acute angled striker engaging the friction plate causes a sound to be generated.
Such device is said to be capable of efficient one-handed operation but has shown to be inconvenient for such purpose in the field. The downward tilting movement of the handle block has proved awkward to achieve the delicate single hand manipulation required to generate a suitable sound, and most frequently the operator finds himself holding the box in one hand and delicately manipulating the handle block with the other. The design of the action of the handle block does not provide for durability in the field in that the handle block is not securely positioned within the rectangular box and thus the handle block tends to fall from the box during use and can require clumsy and undesired rearrangement and realignment during critical moments of use during the hunt. Further, the delicate movement required to operate the device demands significant practice and skill to attain consistency, and the consistency which may be so attained appears non-registerable. By non-registerable is meant that the device itself provides no means to predict a particular attracting sound which may be generated by different samples of the same device, such being wholly dependent upon the feel and skill of the operator for the particular device in hand. Thus, there is a wide variance in the sound made by different operators using the same device in a similar manner, and the effectiveness of the device is more strongly dependent upon the skills honed by the operator than the device itself.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a game calling device which is convenient for single handed operation and durable for use in the field.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a game calling device which is easy to master and is capable of generating different calls for use in different circumstances.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a game calling device which comprises convenient means for registering various different calls amongst different units.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.